The initial beta release of SteamOS became available for download yesterday. Intended to run on Valve's emerging SteamBox platform [Prev] , you can also install it on a fairly modern desktop PC today, presuming it can match up with the adoption-limiting early hardware support requiring UEFI BIOS and Nvidia GPUs ("AMD and Intel graphics support coming soon!"). [more inside]
posted by laconic skeuomorph
on Dec 14, 2013 -
40 comments

Where do you think Apple’s iPhone is the most popular? Where do Nokia’s Symbian phones dominate? How is it going for Android in different parts of the world? What about Blackberry?
We’re going to answer all of those questions and more in this article, which will closely examine mobile OS usage across the world.
posted by infini
on Jan 14, 2011 -
45 comments

Ubuntu has quickly become the number one Linux distro for the desktop. Not only is it free, but it has also made Linux easier to use than ever. Now, Wubi enables Windows users to install Ubuntu just like any other application, so you no longer have to mess around with partitions, burning CDs, etc. [more inside]
posted by Foci for Analysis
on Jan 21, 2008 -
82 comments

Whizzkid develops Linux application for Windows [...]The significance of the development is that Linux and Windows are able to work in parallel on the same computer or server. To[sic] now, the computer world is divided into systems that operate either with Windows or with Linux. [...]
posted by Postroad
on Apr 12, 2004 -
33 comments

SCO is at it again... this time they've asked a federal judge to declare that Linux's general public license — a backbone of the free software movement — unconstitutional.
Let's hope the judge has more sense than SCO.
posted by silusGROK
on Oct 31, 2003 -
33 comments

Why was I still writing for these clowns? Charlie Stross wrote the Linux column in UK magazine 'Computer Shopper' for over sixty months, until a regime change started to impinge on his editorial freedom. The last straw came when he submitted a column regarding weblogging tools for the Linux platform only for it to be bounced because the tools weren't actually part of the operating system ... so he produced this column for himself and emailed his resignation. Part of his decision was based on declining quality and sales. Does anyone still actively buy computer magazines anymore? [thanks Sore Eyes]
posted by feelinglistless
on Oct 16, 2003 -
22 comments

Wal-Mart Ships PCs with Lindows Wal-Mart has stood up to MicroSoft's monopoly with its latest computer offerings, being sold sans Windows. The retailer is selling its super cheap boxes either without an OS or with the upstart LindowsOS. I guess I'll have to start shopping at WalMart to show my support!
posted by misangela
on Jun 21, 2002 -
23 comments

What Linux Really Needs: Non profit, public service announcements by a foundation formed expressly for that purpose. Whether you keep up with the OS fray or not, what a neat idea really. Trolls: Slashdot is burning! You're needed over there.
posted by crasspastor
on Mar 3, 2002 -
8 comments

Can Linux be anything more than a Server/Developer OS without something like Eazel? Will the open-source community be able to do anything productive with its code? Or have we just reached a point where the OS is superfluous?
posted by machaus
on May 16, 2001 -
52 comments

Bill Gates created MacOS X? I came across this memo written by Bill Gates on July 29, 1985 to John Sculley, then president of Apple Computer. In the memo, Gates writes about the possibility of licensing the Macintosh operating system to third party companies. Here's where it get wierd, Bill suggests that Apple talk to AT&T about migrating the MacOS as a GUI layer on top of their UNIX. Makes me wonder who had the idea first, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?
posted by Brilliantcrank
on Apr 10, 2001 -
7 comments

Wincent Colaiuta has seen and reviewed the new Mac OS but you can't read the review. He's encrypted the whole thing using PGP and he's not releasing the key until the OS is released. He says he's done this to avoid law suits from Apple.
I say he's begging for hits.
If he wanted to avoid lawsuits, he could just wait to publish the review...
posted by Jako
on Mar 20, 2001 -
6 comments

Screen Wars, a decent stab by Stephen Levy from Newsweek/MSNBC at summarizing the changes afoot in desktop OS GUIs. Credit where credit is due for some notable Apple alums; more faith than is justified in .NET.
posted by m.polo
on Dec 5, 2000 -
14 comments

RedHat Linux security problem uncovered. Today, apparently it was discovered that if you install the Piranha package with RedHat 6.2 (ostensibly part of the default installation, but there's controversy over this), a default password is installed that would give anyone access to the Piranha configuration package; from there, it is apparently trivial to execute any command on the box that you want.
I find it very interesting that the fact that Microsoft had a "backdoor password" in a DLL made huge news (and it turned out to be patently false), yet this has gotten almost no press. I'd like to think otherwise, but I know it's because people hate Microsoft, and thus are eager to deride it... and yet here's proof that even the mighty Linux is susceptible to the same exact problems.
Next time you reach for the keyboard to cry out "nyah nyah!" at the discovery of some problem with Windows, remember this...
posted by delfuego
on Apr 24, 2000 -
15 comments

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